| NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- U.S. Senator Larry Craig, R-Idaho, on
Friday sent a letter to Majority Leader Trent Lott and Minority Leader Tom
Daschle requesting their support and assistance in including an ammedment
to prevent circumvention of the sugar tariff quotas (TRQ) in the final
appropriations bills now under negotiation.
"If this loophole is not fixed, the result will be continued
unstable sugar prices in Idaho and across the country, leading to more
beet and cane farm failures, more sugar processing factory closures and
forfeitures of USDA sugar loans at a significant cost to the U.S.
Treasury," said Craig in the letter, according to a press release
issued by his office.
Weak U.S. domestic sugar prices has led recently to the closure of some
mills, and also to sugar forfeitures that had served as collateral for
loans extended to the sector by the U.s. Department of Agriculture.
The American Sugar Alliance has blamed the low sugar prices, in part,
to stuffed molasses filtered into the U.S. through sugar imports from
Canada. Sen. Craig's moves aims to stop that from happening.
The ASA is an umbrella group that represents cane and beet sugar
growers in the U.S. as well as corn growers.
Stuffed molasses means adding molasses and water to low priced sugar
from Brazil and Canada, which send the mixture to the U.S. where it's
separated and then sold in the market, already suffering from excess
supplies, said the statement.
According to the Sen. Craig, the pace of stuffed molasses has been
increasing significantly over the last five years.
He said imports rose from 14,517 metric tons in 1996 to 166,240 in
1998, adding that although the data is incomplete, for 2000 about 200,000
metric tons will enter American soil. |